Trench Warfare in WWI

Trench Warfare in WWI
U.S. History
“Soldiers are Dreamers”
“Soldiers are dreamers; when the
guns begin
They think of firelit homes, clean
beds, and wives.
I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed
by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed
with rain,
Dreaming of things they did with
balls and bats,
And mocked by hopeless longing to
regain
Bank-holidays and picture shows,
and spats,
And going to the office in the train.”
Siegfried Sassoon, British poet and soldier
Trench Conditions
Miles and miles of
trenches snaked through
the landscape of Western
Europe from 1914 to
1918, often only a few
miles apart. Hundreds of
thousands of soldiers
fought and died in
trenches, some only a few
feet deep. Rain flooded
the trench, rodents and
insects infested the men,
and the dead were a
constant reminder to the
living for what may lie
ahead.
Comforts of the Trench?
Despite its deplorable
conditions, many men
came to recognize the
comfort of the trench.
Whether they used
the sides of the walls
as shelter from the
rain or laid low during
enemy fire, the trench
came to be home for
many men.
Trench warfare was not a new idea.
The British experienced digging trenches in
Africa during the Boer War
Trench warfare was even used at times during
the American Civil War.
Trench warfare as an all-encompassing strategy
had never been seen.
WWI put trench warfare in the vocabulary of
every man and woman across the continents.
Germans made the initial decision to
dig into the earth.
Use the trenches to help troops take a defensive position
and help transfer troops to other areas of battle.
Trenches made a successful offensive extremely difficult,
as the opposition had the landscape to its advantage.
While this strategy gave commanders much more
flexibility to move troops to where they were needed, it
brought the war to a standstill.
No-mans land
The terrain between
enemy trenches
Often littered with tangled
barbed wire, holes from
shells, dead bodies,
communication wire
An area of death and
decay; often infested with
rats who ate the flesh of
the dead soldiers
Artillery
Artillery, or projectile
weapons, were
important weapons in
WWI.
Either wait for the
enemy to come out of
the ground, force the
enemy into the battle
with an offensive, or
unload on the enemy
with heavy artillery.
Problems with Artillery
Firing on one’s own army.
When firing artillery
during an infantry attack,
it was extremely
important to maintain
communication with the
assault. The big guns
had to keep up with the
advancing army;
otherwise, the guns
would be firing on their
own troops.
Technology
Unfortunately for the
common soldier, no
strategy could offset the
technology of warfare at
the time.
The new weapons and
technology which could
have prevented the
carnage would not be
available for another
generation
Break down the trench
One of the advantages of an artillery attack was the
wear on the trench itself. Sustained bombings and
direct hits could collapse a trench wall or parapet.
Therefore, soldiers had to continually rebuild the trench
as they were being attacked. As a trench was dug out,
the excess dirt and soil was heaped in between the
soldier and the enemy position. An enemy; however,
could consistently shoot at a trench wall to lower its
height. After a day of being shot at, a soldier would
spend the night digging out the bottom again to put
more earth in between themselves and the enemy.
Catch-22
Soldiers were often caught in a deadly
Catch-22: either rebuild the parapet and
be on the watch for snipers or risk being
killed due to inefficient defense. The
better the defenses, the safer many
soldiers felt in the trench.
Rats
“They scurried across the faces
of men asleep, gnawing food
from their packs, and gorged
themselves on the flesh of the
unburied.”
“There are five families of rats
in the roof of my dugout,
which is two feet above my
head, and the little rats
practice back somersaults
continuously through the
night, for they have discovered
that my face is a soft landing
when the fall.”
Lice
“Ninety-five percent of British soldiers coming out of the
line were infested. Lice spread from man to man, living
in the seams of his clothing and irritating his skin.”
“Lice were a constant distraction for the soldiers. The
lice fed up to twelve times a day and laid five eggs a
day. The persistent itching drove many men crazy and
their only relief came in the delousing van, which
steamed the lice from the clothes. Invariably, the men
had to return to the front and the lice.”
“One soldier, as a memento of his misery, pulled a lice
from his undershirt, dropped it on the letter he was
writing home, and dripped candle wax over it.”
Latrines (Toilets)
When the Germans shelled a latrine, they
were counting on help from a source in
the sky. The weather was a major factor
in many of the dangers of the trench
during WWI.
The Germans often aimed their artillery at
the latrines of the French and British,
knowing a direct hit would affect the
conditions in the camp.[1]
Trench foot
Trenches were not
waterproof; therefore,
the rain was a constant
nuisance. Rain collected
in the soft bottom of the
trench, causing muddy
walkways and “trench
foot”
“A simple pleasure of
trench life was digging a
hole into the side of a
trench to stay out of the
rain, despite the risk of
being buried alive.”
Mass Death
The terrible strategy
of gaining ground by
throwing men at the
trenches caused
death to be a
common occurrence
to the common
soldier.
GAS!
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
- from “Dulce et Decorum est” (lines 9-16)
Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum est,” ed. Jon Silken, The Penguin
Book of First World War Poetry (New York: Penguin Books, 1996),
lines 9-16, p192. Owen, like Sassoon, was a British soldier during
WWI. Unlike Sassoon, he died during the conflict.
GAS!
Gas was an important tool in the war, as it
forced soldiers into clumsy gas masks in order to
save their lives. It was a horrible, painful death,
as most gas burned the lungs for a sustained
period of time. A soldier in the trench was more
prone to death than a soldier in the open, as the
gas tended to stay in the dugout earth for a
longer amount of time than above ground.
Therefore, a soldier in the trench had to keep
his mask on longer, as the gas stayed in a hole
longer.
Constant Death
Due to the danger of being
outside the trench, many dead
and wounded were left on the
battlefield.
Mortar blasts often messily
buried the dead on the
battlefield and in the trench.
A soldier “found the dead
embedded in the walls of the
trenches; head, legs, and halfbodies, just as they had been
shoveled out of the way by the
picks and shovels of the
working party.”
Defense of Trench
Since death was only an
enemy attack away, soldiers
defended their trenches with
whatever material they could
find.
Sandbags lined the lips of the
trench,
barbed wire served as a barrier
against foot invasion, and
trenches were designed in a
snake-like pattern to decrease
the damage done by a
shelling.
the deeper the trench, the
better defense a trench would
provide.
Conclusion
WWI was a frightening war for a soldier. Holed in the
ground, wearing light clothing against many different
enemies from men to weather, and conditions sufficient
only for rats, men fought against their environment and
their enemy. The ground was a safe haven, yet a
dangerous grave for many soldiers.
However, without the trenches, the war would have
been far more horrific. Flesh and blood were protected
from the machine guns, artillery, and grenades which
would have decimated soldiers out in the open.
In the end, the soldiers of WWI were much more
protected by the trench than hindered by it.
Soldiers may have preferred the comfort of home to the
war; but if they had to fight, they would have preferred
to be defended in the ground than a target in the open.
Your Task/Homework
Write a letter home
from the trench.
Letter must
describe what is
occurring, what
you are facing,
what has
happened…what
are the conditions
like?